Eddie Murphy Seems OK with His Much Despised Norbit
Eddie Murphy believes Norbit isn’t that bad although some think his aforementioned goofy comedy helped him lose the Oscar for his turn in Dreamgirls.
Eddie Murphy is now featured in a new heist movie, The Pickup, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, the movie’s reviews aren’t looking too good with a mere 28% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Murphy plays with Pete Davidson in the movie. Looking back at Murphy’s career with its many ups and downs, the comic actor thinks his poorly received film, Norbit, where he played a few of the key characters in it, was not the bomb many made it out to be.
Murphy, whose donkey character from the animated Shrek series is getting his own spin-off film, shouldn’t listen too closely to those who don’t like his comedy Norbit, but the 9% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating it holds speaks for itself and makes The Pickup‘s RT score look much better in contrast. Norbit only got a “B” CinemaScore grade, but made $95 million domestically which helped the actor save face in 2007 coming off his acclaimed supporting role in the $103 million grossing Oscar bait film, Dreamgirls.
As for the matter of Murphy’s loss for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards in 2007, the simple fact may have been that his competitor, Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), had been long overdue for an Oscar victory. That doesn’t really matter, though. Critics and Oscar voters were quick to point fingers at Murphy, but in the following years, the theory that a star making a bad film could cost a nomination or award was debunked. Case in point: Anne Hathaway made the poorly received Bride Wars, which under-performed with critics, but she still secured an Oscar nod for her work in Rachel Getting Married.
Norbit won a slew of Razzies. That may have hurt Murphy’s Oscar win chances. Murphy’s excellent work in Dreamgirls was possibly tarnished due to the Razzies, yes, but the fact remains a screen veteran (Arkin) was up against him that year. The Oscars that season proved to be a very competitive field. It was the year Scorsese won Best Director for The Departed and the theme that year seemed to be recognizing people who had been snubbed in the past. Forest Whitaker won the Best Actor Oscar that year for The Last King of Scotland. Helen Mirren won for Best Actress for The Queen. In addition, Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls which may have been the big reward for Murphy’s film in and of itself.
Murphy doesn’t believe Norbit is as bad as some of his other films like the DOA belly flop from the late 1990’s, Holy Man. Murphy can still be a serious actor as proven by Dolemite is My Name. However, The Pickup suggests he can still make forgettable films as easily as he can make quality films.
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